Post installed concealable concrete anchor

ABSTRACT

An anchor for securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element has a generally tapered conical or spherical body element configured to be seated within the concrete structural element. The anchor further includes a threaded bore extending through the body element. The threaded bore engages the threads of the rod in order to secure the rod to the concrete structural element. The body element has a generally planar top face having a top face diameter, as well as a generally planar bottom face having a bottom face diameter. Formed between the top face and the bottom face is a side wall such that the body element is formed with a taper. The taper is inserted into a complementary recess formed within the concrete structural element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to post installed concrete anchors, and more specifically to an anchor that can securely fasten items to existing concrete structural elements, including walls, floors, beams, columns, and in particular, pre-cast concrete tilt-up wall panels.

2. Description of the Related Art

During the seismic retrofit of a tilt-up building, it is often necessary to secure the pre-cast concrete wall panels to the various roof and floor framing elements with wall anchorage systems. These wall anchorage systems typically consist of fasteners, brackets, struts, and/or threaded rods, that are secured to the roof or floor framing elements and then attached to the wall panel with a concrete anchor. Concrete anchors for such applications will typically consist of either an epoxy anchor, a mechanical expansion anchor, or undercut anchor embedded into the wall panel, or an exterior plated anchor with a bolt or rod that projects through the wall panel. When epoxy anchors, mechanical expansion anchors, and undercut anchors are used, they must usually be installed with special inspection, which can cause construction delays and add significant costs to the installation of these concrete anchors. Special inspections are typically unnecessary for exterior plated anchors, as their installation can always be visually verified. In addition, exterior plated anchors will generally provide the greatest load capacity and reliability of all of the concrete anchors noted. However, the exterior plated wall anchors can be unsightly, and have a negative visual impact on a building.

Accordingly, there is a need for a concealable concrete anchor that can be used for the seismic retrofit of buildings with pre-cast tilt-up concrete wall panels that provides the capacity and reliability of an exterior plated wall anchor, while minimizing or eliminating the negative visual impact to the building.

In addition, there is also a general need for a concealable concrete anchor that provides the capacity and reliability of an exterior plated wall anchor, that can be installed without special inspection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An anchor for securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element, such as a concrete wall, floor, beam, or column, that has a generally conical or spherical body element configured to be seated within the concrete structural element. The anchor further includes a threaded bore extending through the body element. The threaded bore engages the threads of the rod in order to secure the rod to the concrete structural element. The body element has a generally planar top face having a top face diameter, as well as a generally planar bottom face having a bottom face diameter. Formed between the top face and the bottom face is a side wall such that the body element is formed with either a conical or spherical taper. The taper is inserted into a complementary recess formed within the concrete structural element. Also formed axially with the recess is a bore extending from the recess through the concrete structural element. The anchor is inserted in the recess, while the rod is inserted through the bore formed in the concrete structural element.

The top face of the anchor may be covered with a patching compound in order to hide the existence of the anchor. Accordingly, the top face may be marred or etched, or have a metal wire mesh or fabric welded or attached to it in order to provide a better surface to adhere the patching compound.

The tapered surface may also be marred, etched, or serrated in order to help the anchor engage the corresponding surface of the recess and keep it from spinning during installation.

The body element with a spherical taper is intended to provide some rotational adjustability of the anchor in situations where the bore has not been adequately aligned with the recess formed within the concrete structural element.

A method of securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element, such as a concrete wall, with an anchor entails forming a bore sized slightly larger than the threaded rod through the concrete structural element. A recess that is axially aligned with the bore is then formed in the concrete structural element. The anchor is inserted into the recess and the rod is inserted into the bore. The rod is threaded onto the anchor in order to secure the rod to the concrete structural element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a seal anchor inserted within a concrete structural element;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the seal anchor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the seal anchor shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the seal anchor shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a seal anchor inserted within a concrete structural element;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section view of the seal anchor shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a side view of the seal anchor shown in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and not for purposes of limiting the same, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a seal anchor 10 inserted into a concrete structural element 12, such as a wall. The concrete structural element 12 has a first side 16 and a second side 18. The threaded rod 14 extends from the first side 16, while the seal anchor 10 is inserted into the concrete structural element 12 from the second side 18. A bracket (not shown) can be attached to the first side 16 of the concrete structural element 12 with the threaded rod 14. Specifically, the threaded rod 14 may be inserted through an aperture formed in the bracket. A nut or other similar type of fastener is then threaded over the rod 14 to compress the bracket between the nut and the concrete structural element 12. The seal anchor 10 secures the threaded rod 14 to the concrete structural element 12 by providing an internal bearing plate or post installed embedded anchor.

The seal anchor 10 can have either a generally conically shaped body element 15, or a generally spherically shaped body element 45 that is inserted into the wall 12. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the body element 15 of seal anchor 10 is formed with a generally planar top face 22 and bottom face 20. The diameter of the top face 22 is larger than the diameter of the bottom face 20. Furthermore, the body element 15 has a generally continuous, tapered sidewall 24 extending between the top face 22 and the bottom face 20. In this respect, the side wall 24, bottom face 20 and top face 22 generally define a cone with a flat top and bottom. Referring to FIG. 2, a lip 30 can be formed around the side wall 24 at the intersection with the top face 22.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the body element 45 of seal anchor 10 is formed with a generally planar top face 22 and bottom face 20. The diameter of the top face 22 is larger than the diameter of the bottom face 20. Furthermore, the body element 45 has a generally continuous, spherically tapered sidewall 54 extending between the top face 22 and the bottom face 20. In this respect, the side wall 54, bottom face 20 and top face 22 generally define a spherical cone with a flat top and bottom. Referring to FIG. 6 in particular, a lip 30 can be formed around the side wall 54 at the intersection with the top face 22.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, the sidewalls 30 and/or the bearing surfaces of the sidewalls 24 and 54 of body elements 15 and 45 may include deformations, protrusions or serrations 36. Typically, the seal anchor 10 is formed from a metallic material such as steel or stainless steel.

Formed between the top face 22 and the bottom face 20 within body elements 15 and 45 is a generally cylindrical bore 26. A series of threads 28 are formed within the bore 26 that are threadably engageable to the threads of the rod 14. In this respect, the rod 14 can be threaded into the bore 26 of the seal anchor 10. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the rod 14 is inserted into the bore 26 from the bottom face 20 of the seal anchor 10. The threads 28 can be upset near the top face 22 in order to prevent the rod 14 from running through the seal anchor 10.

The seal anchor 10 is inserted into an opening 32 formed within the concrete structural element 12. The opening 32 is generally complementary to the shape of body elements 15 and 45 such that the seal anchor 10 is seated within the concrete structural element 12. Accordingly, the opening 32 is sized slightly larger than the outer diameter of the seal anchor 10 so that the seal anchor 10 can be inserted within the concrete structural element 12.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the opening 32 is formed large enough so that the top face 22 of body elements 15 and 45 are recessed within the concrete structural element 12 and the bottom face 20 and side walls 24 and 54 are contacting the concrete structural element 12. A patching compound 34 can be applied over the top face 22 of body elements 15 and 45 in order to cosmetically cover the seal anchor 10. In this respect, the top face 22 may be formed with deformations or have a metal wire mesh or fabric welded or attached to it in order to provide a better bonding surface for the patching compound 34. The opening 32 can be formed within the concrete structural element 12 with an appropriately shaped drill bit as is known in the art.

The seal anchor 10 provides a method for securing the rod 14 to the concrete structural element 12. The rod 14 can be cut to length to suite the application. The shape of the seal anchor 10 with body element 15 will tend to maximize the concrete shear cone and thus the tensile capacity of the anchor. Furthermore, the size and geometry of the seal anchor 10 can be dependent upon the desired performance, installation tools and method of fabrication such that the seal anchor 10 shown in FIGS. 1 through 7 is only illustrative of two embodiments.

Additional modifications and improvements of the present invention may also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art; such as, for example, varying the angle and geometry of the taper for the side wall 24 of body element 15, or radius and geometry for the side wall 54 of body element 45, and/or welding the rod 14 to the body element 15. Thus, the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as limitations of alternative devices within the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An anchor for securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element, the anchor comprising: a generally conical or partially spherical body element configured to be seated within the concrete structural element; and a threaded bore extending through the body element; wherein the threaded bore engages the rod in order to secure the rod to the concrete structural element.
 2. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the body element comprises: a generally planar top face having a top face diameter; a generally planar bottom face having bottom face diameter that is smaller than the top face diameter; and a side wall extending between the top face and the bottom face.
 3. The anchor of claim 2 wherein the body element is configured to be recessed within concrete structural element when seated therein.
 4. The anchor of claim 3 wherein the top face of the body element is configured to adhere to a patching compound.
 5. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the body element is metallic.
 6. The anchor of claim 5 wherein the threads of the threaded bore adjacent to the top face are upset in order to prevent the threaded rod from running through the body element.
 7. An anchor for securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element as recited in claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the sidewalls and/or the bearing surfaces of the sidewalls of the conical or partially spherical body element is provided with deformations, protrusions and/or serrations to keep the anchor from turning when rotational forces are applied to the rod.
 8. A method of securing a threaded rod to a concrete structural element with a generally conically or spherically shaped anchor having threads, the method comprising the following steps: forming a bore sized slightly larger than the threaded rod within the concrete structural element; forming a recess complementary to the shape of the anchor within the concrete structural element, the recess being axially aligned with the bore; inserting the threaded rod into the anchor so as to engage the threads of the anchor; and inserting the combined threaded rod and anchor into the bore and recess such that the anchor secures the threaded rod to the concrete structural element.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the anchor comprises a body element having a top face, a bottom face and a tapered or spherical side wall extending there between and the method comprises inserting the anchor into the recess such that the side wall is adjacent to the concrete structural element.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of forming the recess comprises forming a recess with a size whereby the anchor is recessed into the concrete structural element.
 11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of covering the top face of the anchor with a patching compound when the anchor is inserted in the concrete structural element.
 12. A method of forming an anchor to attach a threaded rod to a concrete structural element from a body element, the method comprising the steps of: forming a generally planar top face having a top face diameter on the body element; forming a generally planar bottom face having a bottom face diameter on the body element; forming a side wall between the top face of the body element and the bottom face of the bottom element such that the side wall tapers from the top face to the bottom face; and forming a threaded bore within the body element between the top face and the bottom face, the threaded bore being configured to engage the threaded rod.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the body element is metallic.
 14. The method of claim 132 further comprising the step of upsetting the threads of the bore adjacent to the top face in order to prevent the threaded bore from running through the body element. 